Royal Mail has said it was "not at fault" for the Plymouth postal vote 'missing 1,500' saga

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Royal Mail has its say on Plymouth's 1,500 missing postal votes

Royal Mail has said it was "not at fault" for the postal vote saga which resulted in1,500 Plymouth voters not receiving their ballot papers.

This morning Plymouth City Council said it appears that a "computer problem" meant voting packs, which should have been delivered last week, failed to arrive.

It is now making 'special deliveries' to people who did not receive their packs – including trying to track down those who are no longer in the city.

In a statement issued this afternoon, Royal Mail said it was not to blame for the error and that it was assisting the council to deliver replacement packs to voters.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "We note that Plymouth City Council has confirmed that Royal Mail was not at fault in the non-receipt of around 1,500 postal voting packs for people who had applied to receive one.

The council is re-issuing ballot papers

"We have a dedicated postman collecting postal votes from the council and delivering these packs as soon as we receive them.

"All postal voting packs that we have received to date have been delivered.

"We will continue to work closely with the council to help them ensure that everyone who is entitled to a postal vote receives one."

Late yesterday the council said it had sent out more than 600 replacement packs and was attempting to track down the remaining 910 eligible voters – wherever they may be at the moment.

A council spokesman said: "We are continuing to do everything we can to ensure the 1,510 people in Plymouth who did not receive their postal vote pack are able to vote.

Voters can cast their vote at Council House

"We have already delivered replacement postal voting packs to more than half of those who hadn't received one and are making special deliveries this morning to the remainder of people whose postal addresses are in the three constituencies.

"We are also making arrangements to get postal vote packs to as many people as possible who have a postal address outside the three constituencies.

"Anyone who applied for a postal vote and did not receive their postal vote pack before going away should ring us."

Earlier today the council apologised to those affected.

The spokesman added: "We are sorry for the confusion and any inconvenience caused by this problem.

"We will continue to do everything possible to ensure people who applied to vote by post can do so."

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In another story from the same paper/website who are up in arms about the cock up...

The council can issue replacement packs via Royal Mail, who have offered to do a special same day delivery service